World News on Israel

What is Israel's role in end time events? We look at this question in the next section below. But first, a brief look at the news of rockets being fired on Israel from the Gaza strip.

There is a lot happening at this time in world history about Israel. Especially since the six day war and most recently with rocket attacks being launched from Gaza. From January 1 until November 21, there have been 2,256 Palestinian rockets fired on Israel. Over 1,456 were fired between November 14 and 21. The UN, the United States, and several European countries condemned the bombing of an Israeli bus that took place on November 21 - 28 Israeli civilians were injured. This same bus bombing was praised by Hamas and celebrated in the Gaza Strip!!!

It has also been reported that after the recent cease fire had been established, around 300 Palestinians (mainly young men) approached the security fence on the Gaza strip at different points. Attempts were made to damage the fence and cross into Israel. Israeli military say that soldiers fired warning shots in the air, but when Palestinians refused to move back out of the no-go zone, troops fired at their legs. One Palestinian is reported dead and 19 injured from this incident. There were no celebrations in the streets of Israel! One Palestinian also infiltrated into Israel during this time, but has since been returned to Gaza.

Will there ever be peace in Israel? And why all this hatred that leads to the deliberate targeting of civilians and the public celebration of the attack? There are prophecies about Israel and the end of the world. Do these events in 2012 have any significance for a December 21, 2012 end of the world doomsday... or the near future? What should we think when we read world news about conflict between Israel and the Arab states?

What is Israel's role in End Times?

Question: "What is Israel's role in the end times?"

Answer: Every time there is a conflict in or around Israel, many see it as a sign of the quickly approaching end times. The problem with this is that we may eventually tire of the conflict in Israel, so much so that we will not recognize when true, prophetically significant events occur. Conflict in Israel is not necessarily a sign of the end times.

Conflict in Israel has been a reality whenever Israel has existed as a nation. Whether it was the Egyptians, Amalekites, Midianites, Moabites, Ammonites, Amorites, Philistines, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, or Romans, the nation of Israel has always been persecuted by its neighbors. Why is this?

According to the Bible, it is because God has a special plan for the nation of Israel, and Satan wants to defeat that plan. Satanically influenced hatred of Israel—and especially Israel’s God—is the reason Israel’s neighbors have always wanted to see Israel destroyed.

Whether it is Sennacherib, king of Assyria; Haman, official of Persia; Hitler, leader of Nazi Germany; or Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, attempts to completely destroy Israel will always fail. The persecutors of Israel will come and go, but the persecution will remain until the second coming of Christ. As a result, conflict in Israel is not a reliable indicator of the soon arrival of the end times.

However, the Bible does say there will be terrible conflict in Israel during the end times. That is why the time period is known as the Tribulation, the Great Tribulation, and the “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7). Here is what the Bible says about Israel in the end times:

There will be a mass return of Jews to the land of Israel (Deuteronomy 30:3; Isaiah 43:6; Ezekiel 34:11-13; 36:24; 37:1-14).

The Antichrist will make a 7-year covenant of "peace" with Israel (Isaiah 28:18; Daniel 9:27).

There is much turmoil in Israel today. Israel is persecuted, surrounded by enemies—Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, etc. But this hatred and persecution of Israel is only a hint of what will happen in the end times (Matthew 24:15-21). The latest round of persecution began when Israel was reconstituted as a nation in 1948.

Many Bible prophecy scholars believed the six-day Arab-Israeli war in 1967 was the "beginning of the end." Could what is taking place in Israel today indicate that the end is near? Yes. Does it necessarily mean the end is near? No. Jesus Himself said it best, "Watch out that no one deceives you. . . . You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come" (Matthew 24:4-6).

The above article is printed with permission from our friends at GotQuestions.Org